Brewing in Basement

I brew in my kitchen year round. Water, stove and plenty of room to brew.

jpsloan said:

that poor dog and his frozen chin!

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lmao:d

I brew in the garage now that I have stepped up to an 8 gal. pot with a propane burner. In cool, blustery weather, I have opened the overhead door about a foot. This opens it a bit at the top also as the top panel starts to travel on the tracks. My thinking is that convection (hot air rising and exiting at the top and cold air coming in the bottom) will keep the air healthy (no CO). The ceiling is high, so heat is not a concern there. I also have an unfinished basement, but would not even consider firing up the burner down there.

Any chance you can switch over to natural gas? It would be a lot safer.

LVBen said:

Any chance you can switch over to natural gas? It would be a lot safer.

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That's what I'm wondering. I have a friend that has natural gas coming into the garage, so we could hook a burner up to that. Are there high pressure burners that are made to run off natural gas?

pajamas or long johns under the sweats or jeans, gloves if you must and a snow blower or shovel solves the dilema..im pretty new to brewing as a whole but i definitely looks forward to brewing in the cold..

You should be fine in the basement. Stay near the door. I brew inside with a propane cooker for the opposite reason. 98 degree weather in Florida. And come to think of it, my stove runs on propane too. I've never considered it a death risk. Just keep the windows open and a fan blowing. It takes like 30 minutes to kill yourself in a closed garage with the car running. A mash and a one hour boil should be fine with ventilation.

Alellujah said:

That's what I'm wondering. I have a friend that has natural gas coming into the garage, so we could hook a burner up to that. Are there high pressure burners that are made to run off natural gas?

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I've heard that all you need to do is make the hole on the end of the propane line a little bit bigger with a drill... I haven't tried it, but I am considering doing it, because I have a natural gas stub in my backyard, and natural gas is supposed to be 1/6th of the price of propane.

I have to admit I've been on the recieving end of the burner in basement scenario and it will eat up ALOT of oxygen. Felt bad like hot and really tired couldnt keep eyes open luckily figured out what was happening before it was too late but if you use exhaust fan/box fan itll help enough to brew in basement and I lived in n. PA and we got mad snow moved to michigan it was worse -10 isnt anything but uncomfortable no gloves or hat here but I did work service in those conditions daily.

looks like you have unlimited wort chiller on your deck

I modified a propane burner a large diameter low pressure style actually works better now then it ever did before but it is on the verge of too much gas / oxygen ratio I used 1/8 inch drill bit I was worried but figured screw it my natural gas line is 12" from my brewing area. If you keep looking I'm sure youll find someone with far better explanation than me but if I can help I sure will.

I should probably be able to rig gas burners down there but not sure what kind of permits I need.

the_bird said:

What about setting the burner up outside, not too far from the basement door? Nothing to keep you from mashing in the basement. Keep boiling outside, but set up your burner so you can watch it from inside the doorway so you can stay out of the wind.

Besides, you're in Jersey, not Anchorage. I know it gets cold, but... c'mon. There are always those nice days even in February when it's sunny and not too windy, just put on your long underpants and an extra pair of socks and suck it up. I'd rather brew in 10° weather than 90°!

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I agree ! I do my mashing in the basement with electric to heat the water, then transport the runnings to the BK on the porch. All propane is fired outside. I simply do not think it is worth the risk to me or my family to allow any CO into the house..even with a CO detector...suppose the alarm went off in the middle of a boil -- now what ?
and like BIRD suggested, I do brew on the porch in the winter ***in VT ** !

tjr9175 said:

I modified a propane burner a large diameter low pressure style actually works better now then it ever did before but it is on the verge of too much gas / oxygen ratio I used 1/8 inch drill bit I was worried but figured screw it my natural gas line is 12" from my brewing area. If you keep looking I'm sure youll find someone with far better explanation than me but if I can help I sure will.

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So you're the second one to mention drilling out a propane burner to fit it to natural gas. I guess I'd have to look at the two to see how this works.

Anyone else have any experience using natural gas instead of propane?

I brew year round in the basement. I crack the window and put a window fan in it. Have a carbon monoxide detector just in case, but it's never gone off. As long as you have safety redundancies you'll be okay.